The Hindu : New Delhi News : India still uses white asbestos despite worldwide ban

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

India still uses white asbestos despite worldwide ban

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, JUNE 2. Though it is prohibited in 36 countries, India continues to keep at bay a ban on white asbestos, directly resulting in daily exposures of nearly 8 lakh construction workers to serious health hazards.

And though there are reams of paperwork on the matter, the use of white asbestos in India continues while there is a ban on blue and brown asbestos.

White asbestos is used mainly for water pipes or as roofing sheets in construction industry. Asbestos dust can be inhaled while drilling, cutting a pipe, repairing, renovating or demolishing a building and its effects are far-reaching, affecting everyone from the person mining it to the ultimate consumer. Clinical reports show that asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer can show up even 25 to 40 years after exposure to asbestos.

And it is not that the government is not aware of the ground reality. In a statement (August 18, 2003) issued by the former Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Sushma Swaraj, in the Rajya Sabha, said: "Studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad, have shown that long-term exposure to any type of asbestos can lead to the development of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.''

"Although this clearly implies that white asbestos is a health hazard, Indian government representatives surprisingly objected to the extension of prior-informed consent to cover white asbestos as a material subject to trade control at the Rotterdam Prior Informed Consent Convention in Geneva in November 2003,'' said environmentalist Gopal Krishnan, at Toxics Link.

The year 2003 saw the global movement against asbestos gaining ground and the latest countries to ban asbestos are Japan and Australia. This while the member states of the European Union stopped using asbestos in 1999 and bans are already in place in more than 30 countries worldwide.

"The government needs to understand that there is no safe and responsible use of white asbestos. There is no single product in day-to-day use at work or at home that needs to be made from deadly asbestos. Even then, over 3,000 workplace and home-based products contain this poison," explained experts. But the issue of white asbestoses is not new. The Environment Ministry had earlier claimed that it was examining the modalities of issuing directives aimed at phasing out the use of asbestos in water pipes and roofing material used by schools.

Following the receipt of reports pointing to the inhalation of asbestos inducing cancer, the Union Environment Ministry had appointed a 12-member committee, headed by former Joint Secretary V. Rajgopalan, and currently the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) chairperson to look into the hazardous effects of asbestos. None of these measures brought out any results.

For its part, the Delhi Jal Board has taken a decision not to use asbestos in the construction of water pipes. Also, the Municipal Commissioner of Delhi has agreed that new schools being built under the MCD's purview were steering clear of asbestos. "Alternative roofing materials are being used. But unless there is a blanket ban on the use of asbestos, it will be difficult to do away with the use of the material completely," maintain officials here.

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